Potter's more pragmatic view of football and the injury situation in midfield should benefit the former zookeeper.
If I get playing time, whether it's starting or coming on as a substitute, I think I can do what I'm good at more," he says.
And that is?
First and foremost defensively, being positioned correctly and being able to read the game, winning the ball higher up the pitch and making sure you have a good recovery game so that the opponent doesn't get counterattacks. Of course I also want to contribute when we have the ball.
The transition to 4–4–2 will be no problem.
In the defensive game, we've been doing it on the club team. It wasn't that long ago.
I'm comfortable with that.
Stop Xhaka
A key to Swedish success tonight is getting better control over Granit Xhaka, who was allowed to run rampant in Switzerland's 2-0 win in Solna.
Karlström's answer to how it should happen at Stade de Genève:
Cooperation between team members, covering areas, cutting off passing lines. Situations arise all the time in matches that you have to deal with by covering for each other.
Even though he gets small areas, it looks like he gets a lot of time. He's so skilled. He was good. We were too spread out, it was messy. He got a lot of time and then he's really skilled.
The national team enters Graham Potter's debut match without players such as Viktor Gyökeres, Dejan Kulusevski, Victor Nilsson Lindelöf and Lucas Bergvall. In addition, Alexander Isak starts on the bench.
What expectations should the Swedish people have of you, considering that so many are missing and there is a new national team captain?
Tough question. You want to see a team that is united. We can't just say that we have quality in the team, we have to show it too. You want to see that, but above all that we work as a team and we are heading in the right direction.
Enjoying Udinese
The contract with Udinese expires in the summer. The club is happy to keep its captain and Karlström is not a stranger to staying for a few more years.
It feels like they want to keep me there and we have a good dialogue, he says.
He recently scored his first goal in the Italian league.
Really fun, a great feeling. It doesn't happen that often, you forget how it feels. Nice to be able to score your first goal in Serie A.
Tonight's World Cup qualifiers kick off at 8:45 p.m.
